As I lean on the door with my ear right on it to listen for the thump she said I’d hear I realize, if she’s right, I’m about to kill someone. I’m about to kill a woman!
My heart stops as my brain spins in my head. I am not a killer! I can’t do this!
Placing the butt of the gun on the floor, I lean it up against the wall. I can’t go about things this way. Her dream may have told her I take the assassin out with a gun but I don’t have to do things that way just because of her damn dream.
It’s a woman. She’s a mafia hit-woman, but she’s just a woman. I have no idea of how big she is, but I’m not some small man. I work out!
I’m tall, strong, and physically fit. A lot more than most men are as a matter of fact. I’m not about to shoot first and ask questions later. And for all I know, she still might get off a shot at Elizabeth.
The gun will be right next to the door if I need it. But I don’t think relying on it is what I’m about. I’m not that guy. I am no killer.
I place my ear back to the door as I roll up my sleeves. I can take the bitch out with my bare hands. I know I can.
The gun she should have would be small. Like that tiny gun Meagan had. She would have to be close, like on her close, to kill Elizabeth.
I practice a little exercise I had in one of my self-defense classes. When you live in New York, the classes are almost mandatory to help you deal with muggers.
My heart stops as I hear the sound of something thumping against the wall. Then Elizabeth’s voice is loud as she says, “You don’t have to do this. The hit was called off. Zane White is about to go on television in just a few hours to tell the world it was not him who called for my death. It was Judge Meagan Saunders who did that, using a stolen check and forging his signature, and making the phone call. And she is now in jail because we videoed her and officers were there to witness the whole thing. So you can shoot me if you want, but my man will kill you if you do.”
“I don’t believe you,” I hear the woman say.
So here we go!
To be continued …
The Billionaire’s Lighthouse Series
A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance
Book 10
Their Love
By
Michelle Love
Description
Danger. Passion. Victory.
Even while in jail, awaiting a trial, her attorneys keep getting put off, Meagan Saunders is still managing to rule Elizabeth and Zane’s lives.
A fear keeps Elizabeth from starting the family the couple wants more than anything.
A fear that Meagan will once again threaten what she and Zane have.
One night at the lighthouse has Elizabeth’s worst fears seeing the light of reality.
Can the couple finally end the threat that Meagan Saunders has presented? Or will Meagan prevail?
Find out in the conclusion of, ‘The Billionaire’s Lighthouse.’
Chapter 1
ELIZABETH
My brain is buzzing as I throw my hands into the air. I hear the sound of the drone coming back. It’s really happening!
I wasn’t wrong. The dream was a premonition and I’m about to be on the opposite end of a gun. A woman will be holding it, along with my life in her hands.
My hand connects with the machine in the air and I hear the sound of it hitting the wall. It makes little beeps then nothing else. I hope Zane was listening and heard the sound too.
My mind is racing with what to do next. Just because the dream went one way doesn’t mean my reality has to follow that. Perhaps I can reason with her. Make her understand the hit wasn’t real.
My knees buckle with the first whiff I get of the vanilla scent. This is happening! This is really happening!
My heart is pounding so hard, I can hear it and I bet she can too. I have to try to talk to her. The words I need to say are stuck in my throat for some reason.
Perhaps it’s because real terror is paralyzing me. It feels as if my muscles have all ceased at once, even the muscle I use to draw breath into my lungs. I can’t move!
The cold of the gun barrel touches my neck. My lips part to try to say something but nothing is coming out. I close my eyes to listen for the door to open but I hear nothing.
With my eyes closed, I can feel the gun so much better on the back of my neck. Then my grandfather’s voice is in my head. “You don’t have to do this. The hit was called off. Zane White is about to go on television in just a few hours to tell the world it was not him who called for my death. It was Judge Meagan Saunders who did that, using a stolen check and forging his signature, and making the phone call. And she is now in jail because we videoed her and officers were there to witness the whole thing. So you can shoot me if you want, but my man will kill you if you do.”
She’s so close I can feel the heat from her breath on the back of my neck. “I don’t believe you.”
The sound of a door opening has me falling forward in a free falling motion to get out of the way of the shotgun’s fire Zane is about to blow this bitch away with.
Instead of a blast, I hear a huffing sound then the sound of people falling on the floor. “I got you, bitch!” Zane shouts.
Looking as hard as I can in the direction, I hear the wrestling coming from, I hear the sound of something hitting the wall then a small popping sound and a flash of light shows me the two on the floor. He’s on top of her and must’ve gotten her little gun away from her and thrown it.
“Are you okay, Zane?” I shout. “You didn’t get shot, did you?”
“I’m fine. Stay where you are,” he shouts back at me.
“You son of a bitch!” I hear the woman yell. “Get the fuck off of me!”
“Give me the belt off your robe, baby,” Zane calls out to me. “I have her on her stomach with her hands behind her back. You can come help me now.”
Going to them on my hands and knees, I find him and take my belt off. I can feel her squirming and find I’m too close to her head and her teeth find my ankle.
“Fuck!” I shriek and kick my foot involuntarily.
“Fuck!” she screams as my foot connects with what felt like her cheek.
I hurry to get my body away from the woman. “You shouldn’t have bit me, you moron. What the hell did you think would happen?”
The lights in the hallway begin to flicker and then they come all the way back on. Zane’s knee is in the small woman’s back as he continues to hold her to the floor. He’s knocked her night vision goggles off her head and they’re lying on the floor across the hall.
He looks at me as I’ve huddled against his side and then he gives me a quick kiss. “I love you. Now close your robe, your tits are showing.”
Grabbing the sides of the open robe, I pull them together and get up. “I’ll go into the room and grab your phone and the charger so we can call Tristan.” As I grab the doorknob, I find it’s locked. “Shit! We don’t have a key, do we?”
“No, we don’t. I guess I should carry her down to the lobby,” he says as he gets up and hauls her up with him. As soon as her feet are on the floor, she tries to use them to wiggle herself free and away from him. He pins her to the wall, quickly, stopping her. “You should be still and be fucking glad I didn’t shoot your ass.”
“You should’ve, I’m dead if I get caught, anyway,” she says.
“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before becoming a hit-man for the fucking mafia,” I tell her. “You weren’t about to cut me any slack, why should we cut you any?”
“Don’t take it personally,” she says. “It’s just a job.”
Zane pulls her back and slams her back into the wall. “You don’t talk to her.”
She groans as I hear the sound of people coming up the stairs and the stairwell door is pushed open. Tristan is leading a pack of policemen into the hallway and the relief on his face as he sees us is priceless. “Thank God!”
“Nice to see you too, Tristan,” I say as he rushes to us.
> I’m grabbed up by him and have to hold my robe tight as he picks me up and my feet leave the ground. Zane laughs and hands the woman over to the officers.
One cuffs her and unties the pink, silk, robe belt and hands it to Zane. “Hey, if it’s not too much trouble can we hear you read this woman her rights before you take her away?”
One of the officers gives Zane a nod and jumps into reading her the Miranda rights. Zane comes up behind me, wrapping the belt around me and tying my robe into place.
Tristan’s face is a mixture of emotions as he says, “I have the key to your room here. I’m afraid the fire department hasn’t told us the extent of the damage to your penthouse, Mr. White.”
“Was the fire contained?” Zane asks.
“I believe so,” Tristan says as the officers start to leave with the woman in tow.
She looks back over her shoulder at me. “More will come for you. All you’ve done is make the death sentence longer for yourself.”
Her words send me falling into Zane’s arms. “Why?” I shout at her. “Tell us who we can talk to, to end this.”
Zane lets me go and hurries to her. Now, what the hell is he doing?
Chapter 2
ZANE
“Wait a minute,” I call out to the officers who are taking the only key to the mafia away from me. “We need her to let her bosses know the hit has been called off.”
The officer holding her right arm looks at her and asks, “Do you have a way to contact the person who’s in charge of this?”
She shakes her head. I don’t believe her. “There’s no way you don’t have a way to contact who it is with the money to send you when the job is done,” I tell her.
“Look, my only chance at staying alive is to keep my fucking mouth shut. I’m sure you understand. So, I’m not the person to help you with this problem,” she says.
“All I’m asking is for a little help. I don’t want a name, hell, I don’t even want a number. I just want you to let the person in charge of this know that I did not ask for this. I don’t want this. They can keep the damn money. Fuck, I’ll give more if I need to.” I tell her and her dark eyebrows go up.
“More money?” she asks.
“Whatever it takes,” I tell her. “Please help us.”
“Is what she said earlier true?” she asks. “Are you going to do a press conference soon?”
“I am.”
“Maybe, if I’m there, they’ll believe you,” she says then looks at Elizabeth. “I can’t make any promises.”
I look back to see Elizabeth nod. “Any help at all is better than nothing.”
“Can you men keep her here. I think it’s pretty close to time for it to begin?” I ask the man who seems to be in charge.
“I’ll have to call in and ask my supervisor. But as long as she remains in our custody, I think it will be okay,” he says, giving me a little hope. “We’ll wait in the room where it’s going to be held.”
With a nod from me, they get back on their way out and I turn to find Tristan and Elizabeth looking the tiniest bit hopeful. “Maybe it will work, Mr. White.”
“I hope so. I need a suit, Tristan.”
“I’m on it. Don’t you worry, Mr. White,” he says as hurries away.
“Whoa!” I call out after him. “I need a key to this room.”
He pulls one out of his pocket and hurries back to give it to me. “Sorry. What a day this is turning out to be, huh?”
“What a day, indeed,” I say as I turn back to open the door so we can go inside. “Tristan, bring something for her too. All of our clothes were left in the penthouse.”
“On it, sir,” he says then the elevator doors close.
As we go back into the room, I notice the shotgun by the door. So does Elizabeth, as she looks at it, then at me. “Why did you decide not to use that?”
“It’s not in me to kill without trying everything else first. The fact I knew it was a woman, on top of everything else, had me thinking about doing things a little differently than your dream had me doing. I do have free will, you know.”
“I’m glad you do,” she says then throws her arms around me. “My God, I was more afraid than I’ve ever been.”
“Me too,” I tell her then kiss her sweet lips. A long, slow kiss that brings me out of the small amount of shock I was feeling and back to the me I’ve become with her.
When I end the kiss I find her eyes glassy. “This needs to be over.”
“I know.” I pick her up and carry her to the sofa and sit down with her on my lap. “We need to make a plan. The penthouse will be out of commission for a while, I’m sure. And I really want to change things up, anyway.”
“You want to move?” she asks.
“I want us to move. I want us to begin.” I pull the black box out of my pants pocket and open it. Pulling the ring out, I take her left hand and lean my forehead against hers. “Elizabeth Annabelle Cook, I need you to become my wife and make my life a dream come true. Can you do that for me?”
“If you can make my dreams come true too, I can,” she says then she stretches out her fingers. “Make me the happiest woman in the world, Zane Damien White. Make me your wife.”
Pushing the ring onto her finger, I say, “And you are making me the happiest man in the world.” I pull her hand up and kiss the ring I’ve just placed on it.
“We’ll start our search for the perfect place to live right away. After this press conference, you and I are getting on the jet and heading out to Los Angeles. I saw something when we were there for that brief visit the other night.”
“What did you see?” she asks as she gazes at the ring on her finger.
“I saw a little sign in the lobby of the hotel. It was advertising a beach wedding and you can get married just as quickly as you can in Los Vegas. What do you think about that?”
“I think that sounds very nice. I can have my parents meet us there. They’re on that side of Mexico anyway,” she says.
Picking her up, I carry her to the bathroom. “I think that sounds great. That way they can be our witnesses. Your family can look at me differently than they did the first go around.”
She laughs and nuzzles my neck. “You didn’t like being my submissive little man?”
“Not one bit,” I say and stop as we get into the bathroom. “And just so you know, there will never be one of us who is above the other. You and I will walk side by side through this life.”
Her bottom lip begins to quiver and I stop it as I take it between my teeth. Her breath is hot on my lips as I change the nibble into a kiss. I move her around so her legs wrap around me and walk until I find a wall to help hold her up while I grind against her.
I don’t want any crying on this day. The day she accepted my proposal. The day I saved her from a fate she thought was going to be hers and would take her away from me forever. The day life really begins for us.
Her legs fall away from me and her feet touch the floor. She stops the kiss and pushes me back a bit then unbuttons my shirt. “I think we need a shower, soon to be hubby.”
She has my shirt off in record time. Then she moves around me and turns me until it’s my back that’s against the wall. Her fingers move quickly to unbutton my pants. The sound of the zipper going down makes my dick twitch.
Her hands moving over my hips as she pushes the pants down, along with my underwear, sends a heat all through me and my cock grows with anticipation.
She moves down as she takes my pants down with her then she gets on her knees in front of me and I groan and hold my hands against the wall as her hot mouth moves over me. “Baby!”
Chapter 3
ELIZABETH
Tristan sits next to me on the sofa as we watch the press conference in the hotel room. Three guards are with me. One outside the door, one inside the door, and one on the other side of me, watching the television with us.
“Look how handsome he is,” I say as Zane walks to the podium dressed in a nice dark blue suit.
His dark hair is perfectly coiffed and his dark beard is trimmed up to the same perfection. My heart speeds up with seeing him on television.
Tristan takes my hand and looks at the ring Zane gave me a little while ago. “I’m glad I picked this up before the fire happened. It would’ve been a real shame if it had been ruined.”
“I know. It’s so beautiful. Thank you for doing that,” I say as I look at the sparkling diamond. “His proposal was so sweet. Like nothing I have ever imagined.”
Tristan smiles at me and pats me on the leg. “You two are going to be a very happy couple. I just know you will.”
I nod in agreement as he takes the remote to turn the television up. “Hello, as many of you know, I am Zane White, the owner of The Sandstone Company, based here in New York City. I’ve grown up in this city and I need your help. My fiancé’s life has been put on the line by Judge Meagan Saunders who is now in jail after being charged with several very serious crimes. All of them were bad, but one was appalling and terrifying to my fiancé, Elizabeth Cook, and myself. Judge Meagan Saunders used a machine to alter her voice, making it sound like a man’s voice. She has connections to the drug and gun world in our town. She has many secrets and her connections with that group gave her the in on ordering a hit on Elizabeth Cook. She stole one of my checks and forged my name on it and made a payment that cemented the hit.”
The reporters go crazy with questions, making the television buzz with their shouts. Zane points at one man who says, “Hello, I’m Brian Glass from the New York Times. These are serious accusations, Mr. White. How are we supposed to believe you?”
“We have Meagan Saunders on video and the police department worked with us on getting the evidence. When the investigation is done, I’m sure that video will be released. The police have it as of right now. But I’m not here to talk about Meagan Saunders. I’m here to talk about stopping the hit on Elizabeth Cook. I did not order it and I do not want it carried out. The money is not an issue. I won’t be trying to get it back. I just want to know the woman, who will be my wife soon, is safe in our city. Three individuals came to the hotel to kill her in the early morning hours.”
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